Ear muff assembly

ABSTRACT

An ear muff assembly for use with a headband including an ear cup, a circumferentially extending first bearing, the ear cup being mounted in the first bearing for rotation about a first axis, a yoke, the circumferentially extending bearing being mounted in the yoke for rotation about a second axis which extends laterally of the first axis, the yoke being mountable on the headband.

C 1 United States Patent 1 91 1111 3,787,899 Krawagna Jan. 29, 1974 [5EAR MUFF ASSEMBLY 817,457 4/1906 Turner 179 156 1,586,391 5 1926 T'179/156 [75] Inventor: Alms Krawagna Town), 2,501,107 3/1950 vil'ifii'inOmar"), Canada 3,272,926 9 1966 Falkenberg 179/182 [73] Assignee:Imperial Optical Company Ltd.,

trading as Safety Supply Co., Primary Examiner-Jordan Franklin Toronto,Ontario, Canada Assistant Examiner-Peter Nerbun [22] Filed July 11 7Attorney, Agent, or FirmGordon W. l-lodson et a1.

1 A 1. N .1 27 1 PP 0 0 605 57 ABSTRACT [52] U s C]. 2/209 179/18279/156 R An ear muff assembly for use with a headband includ- [51 I 41 d21/00 ing an ear cup, a circumferentially extending first [58] Fieid R,1 R bearing, the ear cup being mounted in the first bearing 179/156181/33 R 20 for rotatlon about a first axis, a yoke, theclrcumferentially extending bearing being mounted in the yoke for 56]Referenes Cited rotation about a second axis which extends laterally ofthe first axis, the yoke being mountable on the head- UNITED STATESPATENTS band. 3,457,376 7/1969 Kreisel et a1......... 179/182 R 678,1707/1901 Gardner 179/182 X 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PAIENTEU M29197i 3.787. 899

30 F I G. 4 14 EAR MUFF ASSEMBLY FIELD OF INVENTION This inventionrelates to ear muff assemblies. In particular, this invention relates toan ear muff assembly for use with a headband wherein the ear muffs arepivotally mounted about two axes without forming passages in the cup toprovide the pivotal mounting.

PRIOR ART Ear muff assemblies such as sound absorbing muffs and headphones are mounted on headbands so as to be positional over the ears ofthe wearer. Generally, the headband is intended to extend upwardly overthe head of the wearer. However, in manyapplications the wearers preferto locate the headband in an area remote from the hair, either in frontof or behind the head. Where the ear muffs are circular, this presentsno problem in that the ear muffs may be positioned at any positionrelative to the ear. It is, however, frequently desirable to contour theear muffs so as to fit comfortably over the ears of the wearer and toprovide for a mounting of the ear muffs to permit the headband to bemoved relative to the ear muffs when being worn. The pivotal mountingswhich have been provided prior to the present invention employ amounting screw or pivot pin which extends through the cup and pivotallyconnected to a support carried by the headband. It has been found that apivot pin mounted directly in a passage formed in the ear cup decreasesthe effectiveness of the sound attenuation of the ear muffs by reason'of the fact that vibrations established in the headband are transmitteddirectly to the walls of the ear cup. Furthermore, the assembly of thecomponent parts of the ear muff to include a pivot pin mounted withinthe ear cup is time consuming.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION The present invention overcomes the difficulties ofthe prior art described above by providing an ear muff assembly which issimple in construction and inexpensive to assemble and which providesapivotal mounting of the ear muff about two axes without requiring apivot pin extending through the walls of the cup.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, an ear muffassembly for use with the headband includes the improvement of an-earcup, a collar, the ear cup being mounted in the collar for rotationabout the first axis extending normal ,to the ear cup, a yoke for thecollar, the collar being mounted in the yoke for rotation about a secondaxis which extends laterally of the first axis and means for mountingthe yoke on a headband.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The invention will be clearly understood afterreference to the following detailed specification read in conjunctionwith the drawings wherein,

FIG. 1 is a pictorial view of an ear muff assembly according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view in the direction of the line 22 of FIG. I;

FIG. 3 is a pictorial view of a collar according to an embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

With reference to the drawings, the reference numeral l0 refersgenerally to a head set according to the present invention whichincludes a pair of ear muff assemblies 12 connected to one another bymeans of a headband 14. Each of the ear muff assemblies 12 consists of ayoke 16, a cup 18 and a collar 20.

The yoke 16 has a generally U-shaped lower end having a pair of arms 22formed with axially aligned passages 24. The upper end of the yoke isformed with a resilient body portion 26 and side walls 28, each of whichhave inwardly directed flanges 30 cooperating with the body portion 26to form .a channel for receiving the headband 14. The headband 14 has aridgeat each outer end thereof which engages the inner edge of theflanges 30 when the yokes are mounted on the headband (FIG. 2).

Each of the cups 18 has an outer surface 32, an inner surface 34 and anend face 36. The outer surface 32 is formed with an annular U-shapedbearing recess 38. In the embodiment illustrated, the inner surface 34is formed with a radially projecting face disposed inwardly from theedge 36. A shallow annular groove 42 extends around the inner face ofthe cup adjacent the face 36. An end plate 44 is formed with a shoulder46 adapted to fit in a close fitting relationship within the groove 42so as to mount the ring 44 in a position extending over the edge 36 ofthe cup. A resilient pad 48 is adapted to extend over the face of theplate 44 and has a lip 50 which extends over the adjacent side wall ofthe plate 44 and the cup 18 so as to be mounted thereon. The collar 20(FIG. 3) provides a circumferentially extending first bearing and has aninner surface 52 and a pair of side surfaces 54 adapted to fit in aclose fitting sliding relationship within the U-shaped channel 38. Apair of circular lugs 56 project radially from the outer surface 57 ofthe collar 20. One of the lugs 56 is radially split so as to provide apair of oppositely disposed faces 58. Each of the lugs 5 6 is formedwith an annular recess 60 disposed inwardly of the end thereof. The lugs56 are adapted to fit in a close fitting relationship within thepassages 24 of the yoke 16. The annular recess 60 is adapted to receivea small flange formed adjacent the inner end of the passages 24 of theyoke so that the lugs may be retained therein.

The ear muffs are assembled as shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings so thatthe cup is rotatable about a first axis 62 (FIG. 2) which extendssubstantially normal to the head engaging surfaces by rotating the cuprelative to the collar 20. The cup is also rotatable about an axis 64which extends transversely of the arms of the yoke 16 by rotating thecollar relative to the yoke about the lugs 56. The muff may be rotatedabout the axis 64 from the normal position shown in FIG. 2, the twoalternative broken line positions also shown in FIG. 2 of the drawings.

In use, the ear muffs may beplaced over the ears of the wearer with theheadband in any position relative to the ear muffs by reason of therotation provided by the mounting of the collar on the cup and the earmuffs may be aligned with the head of the wearer by rotation of themuffs about the axis 64.

An important feature of the present invention is the fact that thepivotal mounting of the cup relative to the headband is provided withoutmounting any pivot pins in passages extending through the body of thecup. It will be noted that any vibrations picked up by the headband willnot be transmitted directly to the cup in view of the fact that there isno rigid connection between the headband and the wall of the cup.Furthermore, the fact that there are no passages opening through thewall of the cup prevents extraneous vibrations being transmitted to theinterior of the cup.

The muffs may be used to either dampen sound or as receiver ear phones.When the muffs are used as ear phones, a speaker 66 is mounted on a faceplate 68 which is in turn mounted on the radially extending ledge 40 ofthe cup. The speaker 66 is disposed within the cup and a through passage70 (broken lines, FIG. 2) is formed in the walls of the cup to permit aconductor to communicate with the speaker. In use, the conductor will besealed within the passage 70 by means of a suitable sealing compound. Itwill be noted that forming a passage in the wall of the cup to receive aconductor does not have the same deleterious effect on the soundattenuation characteristics as the mounting of a pivot on the cup or ina passage formed through the wall of the cup.

To assemble the ear muff of the present invention, the collar is locatedin the position extending around the U-shaped channel 38. The mountingof the collar in the channel 38 is facilitated by splitting at least oneof the lugs 56 as shown in FIG. 3 of the drawings. When the collar is inposition, the yoke is located over the lugs 56. The yoke serves to clampthe split sections of the split lug 56 together so as to maintain thecollar in a close fitting sliding relationship within the channel 38. Itwill be noted that the ear muff assembly may be completed withoutrequiring any hand tools.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the present inventionprovides a simple and inexpensive ear muff assembly for use with tehheadband which has the advantage of being pivotable about a pair of axeswithout the direct mounting of a pivot pin through the wall of the earcup.

The ear cup collar and yoke may be formed from any of the well knownmaterials used for the manufacture of ear muffs. The construction of theear muff for the present invention is particularly suitable for mouldingin plastic material and may be formed from a plastic material such asLEXAN (trade mark), available from Canadian General Electric CompanyLimited.

Various modifications of the. present invention will be apparent tothose skilled in the art without departing from the scope of theinvention. For example, the col lar 20 may be split along both lugs 56so this is formed in two parts. it is, however, advantageous to form thecollar in one part as it facilitates the assembly of the device.

It will also be understood that the circumferentially extending bearingformed by thecollar 20 may also be provided by a pair of arcuatelyshaped segments, each of which may have a pivot pin formed thereon forengagement with the yoke.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that it is not essentialto form the circumferentially extending first bearing means to extendaround the entire length of the bearing surface of the cup. However, aspreviously indicated, the split collar has the advantage of being easyto mount and remove as required in use.

What 1 claim as my invention is:

1. An ear muff assembly comprising a. a U-shaped head band having a pairof oppositely disposed ends, a transverse ridge projecting inwardly ofsaid U-shaped configuration at each end of said head band, alongitudinal ridge projecting outwardly of said U-shaped configurationat each end of said head band and extending longitudinally thereof,

b. a pair of Y-shaped yoke members each having a leg portion releasablyconnected at one end to an end of said head band and a pair of armportions projecting outwardly from the other end of said leg portion,said one end of each leg portion being formed with a U-shaped channeladapted to receive an end of said head band in a close fitting slidingrelationship, a pair of flanges projecting inwardly of the U-shapedsection of said leg portion and extending longitudinally of said legportion from said one end of said leg portion, said flanges being spacedfrom the base of the U-shaped channel a distance which is less than thecombined thickness of the head band and the transverse ridge at the endof the band whereby the ends of said head band are releasably locked insaid U-shaped channels, said arm portions having transversely extendingaxially aligned passages formed adjacent the outer ends thereof, saidarms being formed to locate said axially aligned passages inwardly ofthe arc of curvature of said head band,

c. a pair of ear cup members, each having a central axis, an outersurface and an inner surface, said cup members opening inwardly fromsaid head band and being disposed inwardly of said yoke members to belocated directly between said yoke members and the head of the wearer inuse, a circumferentially extending recessed bearing channel formed in aunitary portion of the outer surface of each of said cup membersconcentric with respect to said central axis,

d. a bearing collar having a circumferentially extending body portionadapted to fit within said recessed bearing channel of each ear cup in aclose fitting sliding relationship whereby said ear cup may be rotatedwith respect to said bearing collar about said central axis, each ofsaid bearing collars having a pair of diametrically opposed bearingshafts projecting radially from diametrically opposite sides of saidbody portion, said shafts being mounted for rotation within saidtransversely extending axially aligned passages of said arms of saidyoke member to permit rotation of said ear cups about the axis of saidtransversely extending vpassages,

e. said bearing collar being radially split in a plane which extendsthrough said body portion and at least one of said bearing shaftswhereby said body portion may be opened to permit location of saidcollar in said recessed grooves, at least one of said transverselyextending passages of said yoke retaining the two portions of a splitshaft therein to lock said body portion of said bearing collar withinsaid bearing channel of said ear cup, and

f. said head band and yoke members being rotatable about said centralaxis of said cup members by rotation of said bearing collar members withrespect to said cup members through an angle of at least whereby thehead band may be moved from a position overlying the head of the wearerto a position underlying the head of the wearer as required in use.

2. An ear muff assembly comprising a. a generally U-shaped head band,

I b. a pair of Y-shaped yoke members, each having a leg portionconnected at one end of said head band and a pair of arms projectingoutwardly from the other end of said leg portion, said arms havingtransversely extending aligned passages formed therein adjacent theouter ends thereof,

. a pair of ear cup members opening inwardly of said d. a bearing collarhaving a circumferentially extending body portion adapted to fit withinsaid recessed bearing channel of each ear cup in a close fitting slidingrelationship whereby said ear cup may be rotated with respect so saidbearing collar about said central axis, each of said bearing collarshaving a pair of diametrically opposed bearing shafts projectingradially from diametrically opposite sides of rotation within saidtransversely extending' axially aligned passages of said arms of saidyoke member to permit rotation of said ear cups about the axis of saidtransversely extending passages,

e. said bearing collar being radially split in a plane which extendsthrough said body portion and at least one of said bearing shaftswhereby said body portion may be opened to permit location of saidcollar in said recessed grooves, at least one of said transverselyextending passages of saidyoke retaining the twoportions of asplit'shaft therein to lock said body portion of said bearing collarwithin said bearing channel of said ear cup.

3. An ear muff assembly as claimed in claim 2 wherein said arms of saidyoke member extend inwardly of the arc of curvature of said head band todispose said collar member radially inwardly of said are of curvature ofsaid head band, whereby said head band may be spaced outwardly.

1. An ear muff assembly comprising a. a U-shaped head band having a pairof oppositely disposed ends, a transverse ridge projecting inwardly ofsaid U-shaped configuration at each end of said head band, alongitudinal ridge projecting outwardly of said U-shaped configurationat each end of said head band and extending longitudinally thereof, b. apair of Y-shaped yoke members each having a leg portion releasablyconnected at one end to an end of said head band and a pair of armportions projecting outwardly from the other end of said leg portion,said one end of each leg portion being formed with a U-shaped channeladapted to receive an end of said head band in a close fitting slidingrelationship, a pair of flanges projecting inwardly of the U-shapedsection of said leg portion and extending longitudinally of said legportion from said one end of said leg portion, said flanges being spacedfrom the base of the U-shaped channel a distance which is less than thecombined thickness of the head band and the transverse ridge at the endof the band whereby the ends of said head band are releasably locked Insaid U-shaped channels, said arm portions having transversely extendingaxially aligned passages formed adjacent the outer ends thereof, saidarms being formed to locate said axially aligned passages inwardly ofthe arc of curvature of said head band, c. a pair of ear cup members,each having a central axis, an outer surface and an inner surface, saidcup members opening inwardly from said head band and being disposedinwardly of said yoke members to be located directly between said yokemembers and the head of the wearer in use, a circumferentially extendingrecessed bearing channel formed in a unitary portion of the outersurface of each of said cup members concentric with respect to saidcentral axis, d. a bearing collar having a circumferentially extendingbody portion adapted to fit within said recessed bearing channel of eachear cup in a close fitting sliding relationship whereby said ear cup maybe rotated with respect to said bearing collar about said central axis,each of said bearing collars having a pair of diametrically opposedbearing shafts projecting radially from diametrically opposite sides ofsaid body portion, said shafts being mounted for rotation within saidtransversely extending axially aligned passages of said arms of saidyoke member to permit rotation of said ear cups about the axis of saidtransversely extending passages, e. said bearing collar being radiallysplit in a plane which extends through said body portion and at leastone of said bearing shafts whereby said body portion may be opened topermit location of said collar in said recessed grooves, at least one ofsaid transversely extending passages of said yoke retaining the twoportions of a split shaft therein to lock said body portion of saidbearing collar within said bearing channel of said ear cup, and f. saidhead band and yoke members being rotatable about said central axis ofsaid cup members by rotation of said bearing collar members with respectto said cup members through an angle of at least 120* whereby the headband may be moved from a position overlying the head of the wearer to aposition underlying the head of the wearer as required in use.
 2. An earmuff assembly comprising a. a generally U-shaped head band, b. a pair ofY-shaped yoke members, each having a leg portion connected at one end ofsaid head band and a pair of arms projecting outwardly from the otherend of said leg portion, said arms having transversely extending alignedpassages formed therein adjacent the outer ends thereof, c. a pair ofear cup members opening inwardly of said head band and mounted inwardlyof said yoke members to be disposed directly between said yoke membersand said head band whereby the clamping force of said head band istransmitted directly to said ear cups, said ear cups having acircumferentially extending recessed bearing channel formed in a unitaryportion of the outer surface thereof, d. a bearing collar having acircumferentially extending body portion adapted to fit within saidrecessed bearing channel of each ear cup in a close fitting slidingrelationship whereby said ear cup may be rotated with respect so saidbearing collar about said central axis, each of said bearing collarshaving a pair of diametrically opposed bearing shafts projectingradially from diametrically opposite sides of said body portion, saidshafts being mounted for rotation within said transversely extendingaxially aligned passages of said arms of said yoke member to permitrotation of said ear cups about the axis of said transversely extendingpassages, e. said bearing collar being radially split in a plane whichextends through said body portion and at least one of said bearingshafts whereby said body portion may be opened to permit location ofsaid collar in said recessed grooves, at least one of said transverselyextending passages of said yoke retaining the two portions of a splitshaft therein to lock said body portion of said bearing colLar withinsaid bearing channel of said ear cup.
 3. An ear muff assembly as claimedin claim 2 wherein said arms of said yoke member extend inwardly of thearc of curvature of said head band to dispose said collar memberradially inwardly of said arc of curvature of said head band, wherebysaid head band may be spaced outwardly.